SNES Game Review: Donkey Kong Country

The third best-sold SNES game of all-time gets its proper review finally.  Donkey Kong Country was the highest sold game not named Mario (Super Mario World #1 and Super Mario All-Stars #2.)  This game was the first of a trilogy of Donkey Kong Country games on the Super Nintendo, and all three games were among the top 10 most sold games (DK 2 was 6th, DK 3 was 10th.)  Over time, especially with the newer systems, a lot of these games tend to age badly.  But personally, I don't really quite care as I stopped really buying a lot of the new games after 2006 anyway.  Many people on YouTube have this game among their top 10 video games for the SNES, some (albeit with blasphemy I say) have it in their top 5.  I will say, with playing DK 2 right now as I played the first DK, Rareware did very well to address what was wrong with the first and take it to the second game.  With that, what was good and bad about Donkey Kong Country?

Pros

1. Opening theme: Press play on the SNES, and the first song you hear is a musical jukebox by Cranky Kong.  Then DK breaks that up with some upbeat music.  Typically I gloss over the opening theme, but the cinematic was funny and the theme was pretty cool so I added it.
2. Music: Rareware knew exactly what they were doing when they added the music for all the levels.  The selection is very, very good.  So they got the music right, but what else can I provide?
3. Different characters: There is a bird, an ostrich, rhino, swordfish and a frog so need I go on?  They all provide different beneficial things to you through your adventure by either jumping on frogs, batting sharks out of the way, flying over stuff or whatever you need.  This is a cool thing to have as the journey continues.
4. Different character bonuses: During the game you will have these pendants if you will say that if you get three of a certain animal, you are rewarded with a mini game to gather more lives for your characters.  Also, the characters can be used to open up secrets to get mini-games as well.  So there is more than just one use for these different animals you use.
5. Different levels: Again, Rareware knew how to hit it out of the park with this.  The levels are very well done, and they are very diverse.  You are in the jungle, also under water, in mines, on mine cars, on snowy cliffs and sliding like crazy and on a ship to name some of the levels.  The diversity, combined with the enemies (or as DK says, the bad guys) make it a very good game in this regard. 
6. Diddy Kong: Okay, this one may be obvious, but there is a main reason I think it is imperative to have Diddy Kong in the game.  Essentially the reason is below.
7. Graphics: For as thorough as this game was, the graphics held up well I thought.  This is an added plus

Cons

1. Donkey Kong: You want to know why Diddy Kong is so imperative? It is because Donkey Kong is SO BRUTAL TO PLAY AS.  The only reason to play as Donkey Kong is due to get the bigger enemies out of the way.  Diddy can't bounce the heavier enemies out of the way so Donkey Kong has to.  Otherwise, Donkey Kong is so slow in everything else.  His rolling start run is slow, his jump is slow, his reactions are slow.  Diddy is so much more agile, quick, responsive and he can do fine with about 90 percent of the game anyway. 
2. Frame Rate: I will say this is something I immediately noticed when I started playing the second game.  The frame rate in this game can be decent but overall it is lacking.  This is remotely visible in levels with moving platforms.  They can really be so slow and make the game difficult to grasp.  But when I finish DK 2, I'll compare it.
3. The bosses are way too easy in this game.  There isn't any remote strategy until the final boss.  You just jump on them (or hit a barrel at a giant wasp) and avoid them.  The final boss is a bit different but it is still the same format; jump on them, avoid the boss or the obstacles the game is trying to hit you with and beat the boss.  Oh and other than one part of one boss fight, Donkey is essentially useless especially in the final battle by the way.
4. Graphics: This is more of a comparison but the DK 2 graphics are much more crisp than the DK 1 graphics.  And DK 2 only game out a year after the first game.  Maybe it was because there was a lot more development in 1995 than 1994, but graphics are a pro and con on this game.  I felt the development team would have done more for this game to make it better aesthetically.  

So that is my review of Donkey Kong Country.  So what is my final score of this game?

Score: 8.8/10.  Mostly the subtractions deal with the boss fights and the fact that Donkey Kong is next to remotely pitiful at this game.  The positives? Levels, characters, Diddy Kong being so good, so you get the picture.  So where would I personally rank this game overall in the SNES world?

Rank: 24th.  Yes I am harsh on this game for it kicking off the Donkey Kong trilogy and being the highest sold game not named Mario on the SNES.  However, as I am playing the second game I already see it is better than the first.  My deduction is if they made the main character a lot better and the boss fights even remotely challenging other than the last boss of the game, this game shoots up the ranks easily.